Simviation Forum - [SOLVED] Editing of Alpha Channel with DXTBMP: doesn't work anymore :/

Nov 21^st, 2010 at 10:11am

Daube Offline
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Hi all,

I have a strange problem with the famous tool DXTBMP on Windows 7 64. When I try to modify the Alpha Channel of a texture, using an external editor, everything seems to work perfectly but in reality the alpha channel is not saved correctly.

I still use the same technique I've always used with my previous computer (WinXP 32): I send the alpha to editor, modify it, save, return to DXTBMP, refresh the Alpha, and save the file as extended bitmap DTX3.

When I close the file and load it again, I see the Alpha channel is just a white square ! Not only my modifications have been lost, but even the original alpha channel is lost.

What's going on here ? I have installed the latest library without success.
My UAC is totally disabled.
Even though the UAC is disabled, I have set the "run as admin" option in the DXTBMP shortcut properties.
I'm lost :/

« Last Edit: Nov 25^th, 2010 at 2:58pm by Daube »

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Reply #1 - Nov 22^nd, 2010 at 11:29am

Daube Offline
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Is anybody using DXTBMP in Windows 7 ?
Which version are you using ?

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Reply #2 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 11:17am

patchz Offline
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I'm using 4.00.96 in 7. I did not reply before because I had no idea as to what might be the problem. And this may still not be it, but just yesterday had the same problem. Turns out it was simply the texture I was editing was a DXT1 (no alpha). The alpha appeared to be there, sent it to the editor, but when I saved it, it did not change anything. It did not work until I noticed it was a DXT1 (no alpha) and changed it to a DXT3. Sometimes we miss the most simple things. Hope this is all your problem is.

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Reply #3 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 12:48pm

Daube Offline
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Hi Patchz, thanks a lot for replying

Unfortunately, I know this issue quite well already, so I always carefully choose DXT3 as extended bitmap format to avoid problems.

Unfortunately, this does not work. DXTBMP refuses to save the Alpha Channel.

And sometimes, it's even worse !! If I send the white Alpha channel to the editor, and I use the brush tool to design some silly black lines on it, then save it into DXTBMP, then guess what I get next time I open the file ? A nice grey alpha channel with the black lines still visible.

This is just unbelievable...

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Reply #4 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 2:06pm

JoBee Offline
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What editor are you using?

Are you changing the trans.bmp format while working on it?

cheers,
Joe

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Reply #5 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 4:52pm

Daube Offline
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I'm using paint.NET.
When I finish the edition of the Alpha Channel, I just press save. A popup appears but I don't change it and just save as it is.
I will try with Paint...

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Reply #6 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 5:01pm

patchz Offline
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Daube wrote on Nov 24^th, 2010 at 12:48pm:

Hi Patchz, thanks a lot for replying

Unfortunately, I know this issue quite well already, so I always carefully choose DXT3 as extended bitmap format to avoid problems.

Unfortunately, this does not work. DXTBMP refuses to save the Alpha Channel.

And sometimes, it's even worse !! If I send the white Alpha channel to the editor, and I use the brush tool to design some silly black lines on it, then save it into DXTBMP, then guess what I get next time I open the file ? A nice grey alpha channel with the black lines still visible.

This is just unbelievable...

Weird. Maybe something in the program has gotten corrupted. Have you tried uninstalling the program and re-installing it? Maybe even download it again. Sorry, but I have no other thoughts at this point.

I know how you feel though. I have been unable to run FSX with shadows turned on for months now. If I turn on ground shadows or aircraft casts ground shadow, my video driver crashes. I've done several searches on the

net with no help in sight. Hope you get it figured out. Keep us posted.

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #7 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 5:14pm

Daube Offline
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JoBee set me on the right path.
The problem was coming from Paint.NET, which somehow was not saving the trans.bmp file in a proper way.
DXTBMP could see the modified Alpha, it could perform the "refresh Alpha" function, but it could not save the file.

I have tried again, but this time I've used MS Paint instead. It worked perfectly. I could save the file and now the famous Yak-18 will finally be able to fly over PNW.

Thanks a lot for the assistance, very appreciated

(I still need to work a little bit on the prop, but at least now it's possible Cheesy

)

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Reply #8 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 5:16pm

Daube Offline
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patchz wrote on Nov 24^th, 2010 at 5:01pm:

Weird. Maybe something in the program has gotten corrupted. Have you tried uninstalling the program and re-installing it? Maybe even download it again. Sorry, but I have no other thoughts at this point.

I know how you feel though. I have been unable to run FSX with shadows turned on for months now. If I turn on ground shadows or aircraft casts ground shadow, my video driver crashes. I've done several searches on the

net with no help in sight. Hope you get it figured out. Keep us posted.

What video card do you have and what drivers are you using ?

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Reply #9 - Nov 24^th, 2010 at 10:34pm

patchz Offline
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Daube wrote on Nov 24^th, 2010 at 5:16pm:

patchz wrote on Nov 24^th, 2010 at 5:01pm:

Weird. Maybe something in the program has gotten corrupted. Have you tried uninstalling the program and re-installing it? Maybe even download it again. Sorry, but I have no other thoughts at this point.

I know how you feel though. I have been unable to run FSX with shadows turned on for months now. If I turn on ground shadows or aircraft casts ground shadow, my video driver crashes. I've done several searches on the

net with no help in sight. Hope you get it figured out. Keep us posted.

What video card do you have and what drivers are you using ?

ATI 5970, I'm not sure which driver as Tray Tools is down right now and I can't tell from Device Manager. But as of three months ago, it was the latest one and was installed by a tech that Alienware sent out here.

That is a really good looking livery. I'm not familiar with the aircraft, what is it?

If God intended aircraft engines to have horizontally opposed engines, Pratt and Whitney would have made them that way.

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Reply #10 - Nov 25^th, 2010 at 3:46am

Daube Offline
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This is the Yakovlev Yak-18T by Alexey Yuzefov.
I believe it has been uploaded here at Simviation, I can't remember exactely where I got it.

Anyway, it's a freeware made for FS9 some years ago, and it's quite detailled. It has retractable gears, and a detailled clickable virtual cockpit. The plane can be started from cold and dark, but I found that there is no battery switch and no mixture control. I have assigned a command to the battery switch, and I set the mixture to 100% with CTRL+F4, so then I can start playing with those switches to start the plane

The plane is supposed to feature some engine damage in FS9, but I've seen nothing in FSX, perhaps that doesn't work... all the gauges are compatible, though. There's also, additionnally from the main plane archive, an update file that corrects some issues with the original model. The filenames are:
- yak-18t.zip (original)
- yak18a22.zip (patch)

It has opaque textures our of the box, but all the transparent stuff is concentrated into a single texture with explicit name, which makes it very easy to correct the problem... provided you use a correct editor, unlike me Tongue

When it comes to your video problem, it's really strange.
One question: did you update your DirectX runtimes with the "dxwebsetup.exe" file ? It's not provided by Windows Update, you have to do that by hand.

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Reply #11 - Nov 25^th, 2010 at 12:53pm

patchz Offline
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Daube wrote on Nov 25^th, 2010 at 3:46am:

This is the Yakovlev Yak-18T by Alexey Yuzefov.
I believe it has been uploaded here at Simviation, I can't remember exactely where I got it.

Anyway, it's a freeware made for FS9 some years ago, and it's quite detailled. It has retractable gears, and a detailled clickable virtual cockpit. The plane can be started from cold and dark, but I found that there is no battery switch and no mixture control. I have assigned a command to the battery switch, and I set the mixture to 100% with CTRL+F4, so then I can start playing with those switches to start the plane

The plane is supposed to feature some engine damage in FS9, but I've seen nothing in FSX, perhaps that doesn't work... all the gauges are compatible, though. There's also, additionnally from the main plane archive, an update file that corrects some issues with the original model. The filenames are:
- yak-18t.zip (original)
- yak18a22.zip (patch)

It has opaque textures our of the box, but all the transparent stuff is concentrated into a single texture with explicit name, which makes it very easy to correct the problem... provided you use a correct editor, unlike me Tongue

When it comes to your video problem, it's really strange.
One question: did you update your DirectX runtimes with the "dxwebsetup.exe" file ? It's not provided by Windows Update, you have to do that by hand.

No, did not know about that. But it get more weird. AVG update killed a file in ATI Tray Tools so I had to reload Tray Tools and nix AVG sending it to the cave. But I lost all my settings. I know, I should have made a record of them. I thought I had but I can't find it. Anyway, now I can turn both aircraft cast shadows and ground scenery casts shadows with no crash. BUT THE JAGGIES ARE BACK and I have everything in ATI CC maxed out. Sad